Friday the 13th

 

A scary day. A day of rumored, infamous bad luck.  It became the name of an internationally known horror movie franchise.  I even shot my film DEADLY REVISIONS at the same cabin as that franchise’s fourth installment: partly as homage and partly to play on the theme.

But let’s get real.  There is no such thing as a bad luck day.  There is no such thing as bad luck at all.  Or luck of any kind.  As sentient beings, there are things we can know and things we can do; this combination allows us to control a percentage of our world.  But the other percentage—the part that’s out of our control—is a result of infinite forces of nature:  other beings, timing, and all the rest coordinate to create the moments of our lives.  To call that mysterious alchemy “luck” seems to me reductive and immature; a dangerous combination that allows for embracing such nonsensical beliefs and behaviors as avoiding cats of a certain color, leaning ladders, and stepping on cracks.

While I enjoy the mythology of Friday the 13th, I enjoy it for its preposterousness.  It’s a day to laugh at the foolishness of days gone by.  I only hope one day we can laugh at some of the preposterous things people believe today.  I don’t want to extend this idea here, but I ask each of you reading this to ponder what ill-advised thinking and behaviors might be resulting from similar archaic beliefs people continue to hold today.   I dare say Friday the 13th may be the least scary of them all.

In the meantime, I’m off to hug a black cat.